Today's Guest: James Hodgins of NO BS Photo Success. in Garson, Ontario, Canada
Today's Host : John Bentley
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No BS Digital Photography Shop Talk Transcript Page
James Hodgins Expert PageANNOUNCER: Welcome to No BS Photo Success Digital Photography Shop Talk brought to you by NO BS Photo Success Photography Forum. Dedicated to the portrait and wedding photographer who has the passion and desire to grow. Now here's your host, John Bentley.
JOHN:Today on the No BS Photo Success Digital Photography Shop Talk, we have co-owner and founder, as well as free style wedding photographer, James Hodgins, with us. Welcome to the program, James.
JAMES: Hey, how you guys doing?
JOHN: Hey, just fine. Thanks for joining us today.
JAMES: Hey, not a problem.
JOHN: Let's talk about No BS Photo Success. What is No BS Photo Success?
JAMES: Well, No BS Photo Success in a nut shell is a huge online resource for digital photography and digital photographers. We've got it loaded with, you know, the tips and tricks of Photoshop and photo shoots, you know, whether you're shooting babies, families, weddings, seniors, commercial, underwater, you name it, we've got it in there. You go there, you know, ask your questions, post your photos, get the information you need, download all the actions, the tutorials. It's basically a one stop shop so we noticed that we have a lot of photographers from the newbies that are coming out to the professional, seasoned photographers that have been doing it for years, and everybody that's in there is pretty well all geared to the same thing and that's success in photography. And one thing that we take pride in our forum is that everybody is there to share and learn so there's no big egos and prima donas. Everybody is there to help out and when one member succeeds, you know, everybody rejoices in that and everybody congratulates them and it's just a great, great community to be around and it's always nice to, you know, surround yourself with other people who are successful and have the same goals as you do within the photography industry.
JOHN: Ok, now James, you're not the only member of this wonderful website service that you have?
JAMES: No we have about 1,000 others.
JOHN: Well let's talk about the other co-owner.
JAMES: Oh, Robert.
JOHN: Yes, Robert. Let's talk a little bit about him.
JOHN: Oh, I met Robert years ago when we were strolling down. . . no. . . Yeah, Robert is a co-founder of No BS Photo Success too. He is basically the marketing guru and, you now, he's got a. . . oh he's going to hate me for this. . . he's got a few years over me on the whole photography thing. I mentored under Robert when I got into it about 9 years ago. I mentored under him for a few years, and he taught me everything he knew and then he fired me and sent me on my way, and what happened was is when if you guys want to know just kind of No BS actually came about, we started it when we were back in the film days. I just got internet going, and I was looking for online tutorials on how to take great portraits using my little Vivitar Flashes. . . I bought these two Vivitar flashes from the hock shop, but every time I went online and tried to look for something, it was always pretty elaborate, you know, five light set ups in the studio and you have to have alencrome lights and spend $5,000 on your equipment and all this, and all I had was just a Canon 81 camera and two Vivitar flashes. So Rob said sure you can do it, I'll show you how, let's do it, and we set it up, and he says why don't we take wide angle shots of it, and, you know, we'll make a booklet on how to take great portraits using, you know, simple equipment. So we did just that. We had a little booklet made and all that, but then digital came around and it kind of went on the back burner. Rob went to 100% digital, probably one of the first in Canada to do it, and so we just never thought about it, and I started working with him full time at that time, and he. . . we noticed that a lot of photographers were calling us and asking us how you doing this - how you doing that, and I was pretty proficient in Photoshop when I started I was always around computers and that, and so everybody kept calling so Rob said, you know, why don't we just make a booklet on digital photography and how we do things. So we basically resurrected the No BS Photo Success folder and kind of put all the stuff with film on the way back burner and then we started doing it all in digital photography and it started out with doing some simple vids and stuff like that, and noticed that people kind of liked our Canadian sense of humor, and we started getting more people asking, more people calling and so we decided to create our own forum. We had full intention of going into a membership based forum in years down the line so we created a forum and that sky rocketed and then we loaded into what it is now is the No BS Inner Circle Members' Forum.
JOHN: Ok, let's talk about, what is your experience as a photographer and Rob's experience as a photographer? If you could just touch on that briefly.
JAMES: Well Rob's been doing it a lot longer than I have. His experience, I mean, he does a lot of babies. I mean, he's pretty well cornered the baby market in our area, and he's done a lot of weddings. I remember him doing the photo journalistic weddings, I mean, a long time ago. He was shooting with contacts cameras, and it was all film, and he had 3 bodies and shooting high speed film, and you know, at the same time that like Dennis Reggie came around and stuff like that, Rob was doing all that too, and he was making. . . he made a really good name for himself, and when I met him, I was just, you know, fresh into photography. I just had a camera. It was actually the only thing I was kind of good at. It was the only thing that people really complimented me on. . . I wasn't good at anything else, and he took me under the wing and basically just, you know, I was the grunt. I was the Robert Provencher grunt. I would go to his weddings and hold the reflector and he would pay me with a Subway sub or something. He paid me in much more, he paid me with the knowledge that, you know, he gave me and everything.
JOHN: Sure.
JAMES: So we pretty well, I've come from pretty well the same background as him now, because, I mean, he's taught me everything that he knows, and I'd like to think I taught him a few things too, you know.
JOHN: I'm sure you have. So how many years have you two been together?
JAMES: I would probably say 9 or 10 years now.
JOHN: Excellent.
JAMES: Yeah.
JOHN: We are in the studio today with James Hodgins of No BS Photo Success, and you are listening to The Digital Photography Shop Talk. We're going to step aside for these important messages, and we'll be back with more of James.
ANNOUNCER: This program is sponsored by NO BS Photo Success Photography Forum. Visit them on the web at www.nobsphotosuccess.com. NO BS Photo Success dedicated to the portrait and wedding photographer who has the passion and desire to grow.
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ANNOUNCER: www.morephotos.com helps professional photographers manage their digital images online in over 20 countries. They can help you with domain names, websites, shopping carts, and online proofing solutions. Please visit them at www.morephotos.com. Www.morephotos.com the online sales solution for professional photographers worldwide. We now return you to the NO BS Photo Success Digital Photography Shop Talk show with your host, John Bentley.
JOHN: Welcome back to the Digital Photography Shop Talk. We are here in the studio with co-owner and founder, and alternative photographer, and free style wedding photographer, James Hodgins, of No BS Photo Success. Welcome back to the program, James.
JAMES: Hey alright. Good stuff.
JOHN: Now we've been talking about who you guys are who's No BS Photo Success. Let's talk about what is it that you guys are providing for your customers, photographers that are coming to your website?
JAMES: We're providing information for our photographers whether you're a newbie or a seasoned professional. Anything you want to know, you know, it's difficult to get into the market. I mean, you know, being a digital wedding photographer is. . . it's hard or for any type of photography right now. It's not simple as just picking up a camera, pressing the shutter, and there you're a professional photographer. But for those of you who want to set up their business and stuff like that, we've got all the answers and all the resources for you. You know, how to market your business, how to promote it, you know, how to budget, how to shoot the styles you want to shoot. If you want to shoot babies, weddings, you know, commercials, seniors, which are really big. All the answers are in there. All you have to do is ask. You know, Photoshop, it's such a vast program. We've got loads and loads of Photoshop tutorials, how to tutorials for the digital photographer. We only use maybe 20% of Photoshop and when you buy the book and stuff like that, and you open it up and they're like 400 pages and it's small little 3 point text and takes you 5 years to read it. I mean they're showing you how to use everything in Photoshop. We're showing you what you need to know to get the job done as a portrait and wedding photography studio. So we're just showing you quickly and easily, you know, the No BS way. I mean, there's a lot of technical goo gaas out there, you now, and all these technical terms and stuff like that and you should do this and do that, but really in the end what's important is what clients think, and if a clients happy, then you're happy and the bank account is happy and we're all happy. So the point to our forum, you know, everything's there for the plucking, you just have to reach out and grab it, and if something that you can't find, what we like is that, you know, if you ask, you're going to get the answers that you want. You can ask the same question that has been asked 400 times by 400 people before you, and our members are not going to go, oh here we go again another new person asking what an aperture is or, you know, stuff like that. It's not like that at all. Everybody is just gracious, you know, say hey welcome, here's the information you're looking for. If you have any questions, please ask.
JOHN: So there's a forum that if I'm a customer, and I get onto your service, I can throw a question out there and then people, experts in the field all across the world, I would imagine, are going to give you responses about that.
JAMES: Yep, oh you're going to have answers immediately, immediately. I mean, and not only that, I mean, our forum it's unique in a few ways, but we have loads of vendors. You get massive discounts on a lot of software and products. We have our yearly, annual No BS inferno which is for members only which is a three day seminar with top notch speakers and just can't beat the price on that when you see it, because really the whole benefit is for the members. No BS is all about the members. It's really about giving our members as much value as we possibly can so that they can take their digital photography to the next level.
JOHN: So, ok, they can get on the site and then they can download different. . .
JAMES: You want to know how to shoot a high key three month old baby? We've got the actual session right in there.
JOHN: No kidding.
JAMES: Want to know how to take good underwater pictures? We've got video, underwater video right then and there. You want to know how to shoot a minor? Do you want to know how to shoot a wedding, a bride and groom, anything? It's been done. There's hundreds of videos on everything. You want to know how to, you know, make a really cool affect in Photoshop or how to create your actions it's all in there. Heck there's even a recipe to make chocolate milk.
JOHN: Really.
JAMES: Yeah.
JOHN: That's good to know, cause you've got to have a good chocolate milk recipe. Ok. Let's talk about a couple of the forums then. What is the Inner Circle Member Forum then? I see there's some things listed on your site, like the Big Kahuna, the ultimate lighting tutorial.
JAMES: As No BS Photo Success goes, we do have a bunch of different photography products for the digital photographer so, I mean, we have the Big Kahuna which is a DVD set that has videos on how to work weddings in under three hours. There's all sorts of actions and Photoshop tutorials and video tutorials. The Big Kahuna is the Big Kahuna, pretty well everything what we know is in there. There's a 172 page *pdf format booklet on how to use Photoshop, step by step instructions with screen captures to show you how to use Photoshop using the simple steps that we use. Our work flow is very simple, and a lot of people are very surprised by just how easy our work flow is and how fast we manipulate an image, and it all comes down to just keeping it simple. Now we also have like the wedding, the Freestyle Wedding DVD Success System which is Rob and I we've been video tape. . . shooting weddings. There's three weddings we had a videographer follow us around and you see exactly how we shoot, where we're shooting, what we're shooting, and all the images are rolled right in there. You see how we interact with our clients, you know, how we converse with them, how we laugh and everything, and how we basically get them to trust us so much that by the end of the wedding, we're just, I mean, we're all best friends, right? We have other, we have actions for downloads. There's loads of products. Then there's the Membership Forum which is the community based forum which is where you can post and ask your questions. There's live chat so you can get the answers you want right away. Now, all the Big Kahuna and all our products except for The Wedding System which will be in there is all included in the No BS Inner Circle Members' Forum for downloads. So we've taken all those DVDs and rendered them out for downloadable files and throwing them in there.
JOHN: Excellent. Now what's the Profitable Studio Marketing Success System?
JAMES: Again, that's Rob's. . . that's a separate site for Rob that it's a. . . Profitable Studios is a mentorship program that Rob does. So you sign up for that and it's a mentorship program on your photography and your business.
JOHN: Excellent. So people can go and download tutorials on marketing. . .
JAMES: Yep.
JOHN: On managements, even things like posing and models?
JAMES: Yep. Yep.
JOHN: Lighting. Lighting's got to be a big thing.
JAMES: Lighting is a huge thing, you know. It's funny in my personal opinion, lighting is extremely complicated until the light bulb clicks and then you're like, Oh! It's extremely simple. Once you figure it out, it becomes extremely simple, but it's hard to figure out. So we have, I mean, there's loads of videos on there. When we do our video tutorials, when I'm shooting a baby, you know, I'm showing. . . we're showing. . . ok this is how we have our main light set up this way, this is the F stop, this is our hair light, we have it set up this way. This is our background light, you know, it's a this model, does it all, it's set out for this much, we're shooting at ISO 100 125th, this is the lens, you know, and we're showing everything. So you actually see how the lights are compared to, you know, in relation to the model and stuff like that. I mean, it's easy to draw a diagram or explain it in text, but when you actually see how it's done, and then you see the finished image, and then you see how the images work flowed, I mean, it's just so much easier to comprehend, and we've got loads and loads of videos. Everything in there is all digital. It's all 100% digital.
JOHN: Well James Hodgins, I want to thank you for joining us today on the Digital Photography Shop Talk.
JAMES: Hey, thanks guys.
JOHN: James Hodgins is co-owner and founder, as well as free style wedding photographer of No BS Photo Success. James, before I let you go, why don't you throw a contact number and/or website.
JAMES: Yeah, if you have any questions you can simply go to www.nobsphotosuccess.com . There is an email address there. There's also our, you know, there's also my phone number there (705) 561-3686, I would gladly answer any questions you have. If I'm not in, because, you know, I'm usually shooting, because yeah, we are busy, just leave a message, I'm glad to get back to you on a Monday or a Tuesday, you know, because I'm shooting Saturdays and I'm fishing on Sundays.
JOHN: Good for you. Thanks James for joining us today on Digital Photography Shop Talk.
JAMES: Appreciate talking to you both.
JOHN: Take care. Bye bye.
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